BCG Fellows

BCG’s teams seek insights to address each client's unique needs. At the same time, recognizing patterns across our work is the key to crafting industry-shaping ideas. Our most accomplished thought leaders are nominated as BCG Fellows and are supported over a multiyear period to develop and disseminate an innovative idea that they believe will create value for business leaders.

Recognizing, Supporting, and Nurturing Passionate Ideas

Take a deeper look into the industry- or function-specific research in which our Fellows are engaged.

Consumer

Forecasting and understanding trends—and how they will shape consumer behavior—is necessary for consumer goods companies to stay ahead of the competition. Developing economies have begun to affect every aspect of the consumer industry, from production to consumer preferences. Companies must shift their focus to prepare for these emerging global changes. Our Fellows are investigating areas such as the rising affluence among Chinese and Indian consumers—and how that shift will put pressure on the supply of consumer products, commodities, energy, and water.

Corporate Development

Today's activist shareholders are challenging boards to revisit their portfolio strategies in order to identify growth and maximize shareholder value. As the relationship among industry landscape, corporate strategy, and capital markets intensifies, developing the most effective strategic approach will require companies to gain a holistic view of changing business conditions and understand their sources of valuation advantage.

Our Fellows are investigating patterns in value creation and the latest innovations in portfolio management.

Education

Budgetary decisions are the toughest challenges that stakeholders in local education face. But not all spending is created equal. How a school system spends its budget is even more important than the amount it actually spends. By taking a value-based approach to assessing and selecting their investments, educators can control spending and invest in digital learning—while improving student outcomes.

Energy & Environment

Companies that fail to evolve along with the latest energy technologies, regulations, and resources will quickly become irrelevant. All segments of the value chain within the energy and environment industry are affected by these changing realities, increasing the need for experience in pricing, partnering, and risk management. Improving operational efficiency, reducing costs, and evaluating new investments are necessary for success, not just in today's world but also in the future landscape as well.

Our Fellows are investigating areas such as business model patterns in commodities, including volatility in commodity sourcing and pricing and how to turn that volatility into a competitive advantage. They are also looking into the changing dynamics of global energy markets—greater connectivity between regions and across energy types—and the implications for energy players, investors, and regulators.

Finance

The global financial crisis continues to affect financial institutions as the economy attempts to recover. Players need to understand the current landscape and future possibilities in order to respond proactively. As governments and regulators play increasingly activist roles in the sector, both banks and organizations in the nonbanking financial sector need to understand the landscape and be ready to respond.

Our Fellows are studying areas such as banking in emerging markets, risk management, and capital management for financial institutions.

Health Care

Emerging technologies and the changing needs of patients pose unique challenges for the health care industry. In the global struggle to manage the cost of health care, practitioners and policy makers are increasingly focusing on value—delivering the best possible health outcomes at the lowest possible cost. Groundbreaking efforts in the field of value-based health care will unlock the industry's maximum potential for both payers and providers.

Operations

Today's competitive global economy is more turbulent than ever, and change has become the norm. Companies that are able to adapt to and even shape their environments will have significant advantage, but this requires several operational changes, in particular effective change management. A robust change management capability allows companies to ensure that their organizations achieve new heights while still driving the day-to-day business.

Marketing, Sales & Pricing

Customers in both developed and emerging markets are rapidly changing how they learn about and buy products. At the same time, a powerful and exciting new arsenal of commercial data and tools is available. Leading companies are transforming their marketing, sales, and revenue functions. With low risk and high returns, transforming how to go to market can generate great value for companies and their customers. Our Fellows are examining the use of innovative methods to extract consumer insights and how these insights will inform business strategy.

People & Organization

People- and organization-related challenges will impact companies in the future more than any other operational issue. How they manage complexities, engage employees, and deal with change in a dynamic landscape will determine whether they win or lose. Our BCG Fellows are working on answers to the following questions:

Strategy

Staying ahead in today's economy demands innovative approaches to business strategy. To win, companies must surpass their fundamental understanding of current and future sources of competitive advantage by distilling the most important insights from emerging approaches. They must look beyond the obvious and discover innovative new ways to compete.

Technology, Media & Telecommunications

Technology has transitioned from a supporting business unit into a strategic weapon and driver of sustainable growth across all industries. The new technological options that are necessary for companies to explore are also posing new organizational challenges—especially the continuous transformation of consumer relationships. To win, companies must not only explore and leverage the new technologies that will continue to arise but also build the trust of consumers to realize the value from these technologies.